09-15-2019, 11:55 AM
Graylocks,
Some considerations. Flash storage and SSD, in this case, are synonymous. When you think internal SSD and internal flash storage, they are the same. You'll pay big bucks for it. How much storage you need for your boot drive is up to you and how you want to configure your machine.
I've done the OS and Apps on an internal drive and data and such on a separate drive configuration. I've done an everything is on the boot drive configuration. I prefer the latter. A boot drive with everything on it is much easier to manage in my experience. It makes backing up easier. Makes restoration easier.
The primary boot drive of all of my machines always has ample capacity for OS, Apps, data and spare storage. For backups, I clone the drive to an external (multiple clones, actually) and use Time Machine. Super easy. Over time, data I don't need regularly gets moved to an external "archives" drive. That drive gets backed up, too.
Prior to switching to the above configuration, I used the lower capacity boot drive for the OS and Apps and separate data drive configuration. I had to special configure key apps like iTunes and iPhoto (the Apple photo app at the time). Some apps prefer storing data on the boot drive instead of different locaiton (Apple Mail, for exam-ple). Ended up with data on the boot drive and on the data drive. That made managing the backups an nuisance. As the price of SSDs fell, I moved to a higher capacity SSD boot drive for everything (OS, Apps, Data, etc) and switched to the configuration I use now and have never looked back.
In regards to RAM, the 2017, 2018 and 2019 iMac 21.5" models have upgradeable RAM but it is a big pain in the butt. You're not going to want to upgrade it in the future. If you want more than 8 gigs of RAM, by the machine preconfigured with it and be done with it. If you go with a 21.5" iMac, go with at least 16 gigs of RAM at the minimum.
Upgrading the RAM in 2017, 2018 and 2019 iMac 27" models is super easy. Takes 5 minutes. If you go with a 27" model, get it with 8 gigs. You can easily upgrade it later and it won't cost you as much as buying the extra RAM from Apple. The 27" model I bought had 8 gigs of RAM out of the box. I added another 16 from OWC.
As for storage, buy the Mac with a fusion drive and run it off an external SSD. You'll save money and still have wicked fast storage. The type of external SSD depends on what you already have and/or are willing to purchase. All of the 2017 iMacs have Thunderbolt 3 ports which are compatible with USB 3 Gen 2. Any SSD you use as a boot drive should be connected to one of them. What type of SSD is dependent on what you already have or need to purchase (or build).
The 2014 iMac 27" at my office has a standard 2.5" SSD in a USB 3 Gen 2 enclosure as its boot drive. This iMac model has Thunderbolt 2 ports, which do not support bus-powered USB drives. The boot drive is connected via USB 3 to one of the iMacs USB 3 ports. It runs faster than the internal fusion drive and it's a very nice configuration.
The 2019 iMac 27" has a NVME M.2 SSD in a USB 3 Gen 2 enclosure as its boot drive. It's connected via USB 3 Gen 2 to one of the iMacs Thunderbolt 3 ports. Wicked fast. Although the internal fusion drive of the 2019 iMac has very fast reads (but slower writes) in comparison to previous fusion drives, it's outmatched by the NVME drive. If I move the NVME SSD into a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure, the speeds will blow past the fusion drive with ease. However, I'm pleased enough with the performance in the current configuration that I have no plans to move the NVME SSD into a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure. Not cost-effective.
Hope all of the above helps.
Robert
Some considerations. Flash storage and SSD, in this case, are synonymous. When you think internal SSD and internal flash storage, they are the same. You'll pay big bucks for it. How much storage you need for your boot drive is up to you and how you want to configure your machine.
I've done the OS and Apps on an internal drive and data and such on a separate drive configuration. I've done an everything is on the boot drive configuration. I prefer the latter. A boot drive with everything on it is much easier to manage in my experience. It makes backing up easier. Makes restoration easier.
The primary boot drive of all of my machines always has ample capacity for OS, Apps, data and spare storage. For backups, I clone the drive to an external (multiple clones, actually) and use Time Machine. Super easy. Over time, data I don't need regularly gets moved to an external "archives" drive. That drive gets backed up, too.
Prior to switching to the above configuration, I used the lower capacity boot drive for the OS and Apps and separate data drive configuration. I had to special configure key apps like iTunes and iPhoto (the Apple photo app at the time). Some apps prefer storing data on the boot drive instead of different locaiton (Apple Mail, for exam-ple). Ended up with data on the boot drive and on the data drive. That made managing the backups an nuisance. As the price of SSDs fell, I moved to a higher capacity SSD boot drive for everything (OS, Apps, Data, etc) and switched to the configuration I use now and have never looked back.
In regards to RAM, the 2017, 2018 and 2019 iMac 21.5" models have upgradeable RAM but it is a big pain in the butt. You're not going to want to upgrade it in the future. If you want more than 8 gigs of RAM, by the machine preconfigured with it and be done with it. If you go with a 21.5" iMac, go with at least 16 gigs of RAM at the minimum.
Upgrading the RAM in 2017, 2018 and 2019 iMac 27" models is super easy. Takes 5 minutes. If you go with a 27" model, get it with 8 gigs. You can easily upgrade it later and it won't cost you as much as buying the extra RAM from Apple. The 27" model I bought had 8 gigs of RAM out of the box. I added another 16 from OWC.
As for storage, buy the Mac with a fusion drive and run it off an external SSD. You'll save money and still have wicked fast storage. The type of external SSD depends on what you already have and/or are willing to purchase. All of the 2017 iMacs have Thunderbolt 3 ports which are compatible with USB 3 Gen 2. Any SSD you use as a boot drive should be connected to one of them. What type of SSD is dependent on what you already have or need to purchase (or build).
The 2014 iMac 27" at my office has a standard 2.5" SSD in a USB 3 Gen 2 enclosure as its boot drive. This iMac model has Thunderbolt 2 ports, which do not support bus-powered USB drives. The boot drive is connected via USB 3 to one of the iMacs USB 3 ports. It runs faster than the internal fusion drive and it's a very nice configuration.
The 2019 iMac 27" has a NVME M.2 SSD in a USB 3 Gen 2 enclosure as its boot drive. It's connected via USB 3 Gen 2 to one of the iMacs Thunderbolt 3 ports. Wicked fast. Although the internal fusion drive of the 2019 iMac has very fast reads (but slower writes) in comparison to previous fusion drives, it's outmatched by the NVME drive. If I move the NVME SSD into a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure, the speeds will blow past the fusion drive with ease. However, I'm pleased enough with the performance in the current configuration that I have no plans to move the NVME SSD into a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure. Not cost-effective.
Hope all of the above helps.
Robert